Electric planer
A good use for an electric planer, but not always needed, is to trim down roof truss rafters if there are one or more that stick out of line. Even the most careful roofer may find that this happens. You can either put up with a slight ireregularity in the line of the roof, which won't be so noticeable from ground level, or trim the offending rafters - but take care if the gang nail clips are near the top surface.
Another good use is to trim doors - either the width or to allow for the fitting of carpets.
Tile Cutter
A good quality tile cutter is essential and, as well as a manual cutter it is really worth getting a diamond wheel cutter. Don't necessarily get the cheapest - more expensive ones come with a bigger bed which makes cutting larger tiles much easier. With a diamond cutter, intricate profiles are easy to cut and you should not suffer broken tiles.Other Good Things
The items below are in addition to what you would normally have in your tool box, and the obvious items such as buckets and shovels. Even if you are hiring in trades, you may still be expected to provide some of these - brickies do not usually provide their own scaffolding boards.Trestles and Scaffolding Boards
Scaffold boards will be required very soon in the build to allow wheel barrows to cross the foundation trenches. After that, in conjunction with trestles,){kind=small}
they
will allow the brickies to gain some height for block laying - but take care and observe safety -
see the H&SE PDF Work at Height
Regulations 2005.
Workbench
Such as manufactured by Wolfcraft and Black and Decker, these are a common DIY item and have many uses in a house build.Saw horses
Sturdy wooden ones are usually home made but fairly good plastic ones can be obtained from tool suppliers and DIY stores. Useful on their own or to support timber when cutting with a slide compound saw - but you can get ball and roller support trestles for table and slide compound saws.Tarpaulins
Even cheap plastic ones will come in useful for (amongst others):- covering sand (stops cats getting to it!)
- keeping rain off materials until they can be brought under cover e.g. cement
- covering new block/brickwork against rain/frost
